User talk:AuroraMLP/Archive
This is the archive page for my Talk Page. Please direct any new comments to that location. You can navigate to each section below using this Table Of Contents: BlackOak42 Welcome Hi, I'm an admin for the community. Welcome and thank you for your edit to Progress on the next Ponymon Dawn Dusk update! If you need help getting started, check out our or contact me or here. For general help, you could also stop by Community Central to explore the forums and blogs. Please leave me a message if I can help with anything. Enjoy your time at ! --User talk:BlackOak42 Hi Thank you for commenting on my progress. As you might have noticed from my progress notes I am getting the background information lined up. The project has gone further and faster than if I got the updates going before everything was ready to just fill in. I am going so fast on the background stuff this way that I expect to hit a point where I can assess how far I am soon. I plan to get to a point where I get a preliminary layout of catch area data complete before I start getting the sprites for the rest of the Ponymon going. Sometime around that point I plan to work on an update package. I hope you have also seen the progress on this Wiki too. You can sort of track it by checking on the Ponymon Names. If you questions about how I program you might enjoy my Quality Samples. You might also be interested in making suggestions or submitting sprites HERE. Thank you and happy gaming. --BlackOak42 (talk) 10:02, February 5, 2017 (UTC) It sounds like you might also be interested in my suggested list of Tools (Software Recommendation). --BlackOak42 (talk) 10:15, February 5, 2017 (UTC) My compliments on your Avatar and Aurora-no-sword.png --BlackOak42 (talk) 01:23, February 20, 2017 (UTC) Wiki and Game Help I am expanding the Stat Examples HERE (Moved to HERE). --BlackOak42 (talk) 22:43, February 21, 2017 (UTC) If you use GIMP and need help with pallets, I could probably help. --BlackOak42 (talk) 00:57, February 23, 2017 (UTC) I have been working on How to's/tutorials, and have started a list of them HERE. I have completed the part of How To Make Battle Sprites In GIMP that shows an easy way to set up an indexed pallet. It will also cover most if not all requirements for sprites on this game. Also, once we set up the music stuff I will probably ask your help making a tutorial for that. P.S. I played French Horn in High School. French Horn is awesome! --BlackOak42 (talk) 17:10, February 27, 2017 (UTC) Thanks! I will definitely check out that tutorial. I do have something a bit better for spriting called Pro Motion NG, but the information should still be useful, as I use GIMP a lot for other applications. Still, I was more interested if there was a specific pallets that Ponymon used. I don't know the limitations of the GBA that well, and I know a lot of older games had a restriction on how many pallets were able to be displayed at once. (Still, it seems that there is no particular restriction when reading the tutorial.) And I would be happy to help with the music tutorial as well. (Nice! Another French Horn player! Those seem to be kind of rare, at least now. I am almost always the only French Horn player in a given area.) --AuroraMLP (talk) 18:17, February 27, 2017 (UTC) The battle screen sprites have a couple of pallets for each Ponymon (or Pokemon). The front and back sprites are paired because they have a shared pallet for normal Ponymon and another shared pallet for shiny Ponymon. The exception to this is the Unowns that use the same two pallets for all of them. There are 16 sprite and 16 background pallet slots in the GBA memory. There are a limited number of map sprite pallets that are shared. The pallet is chosen by one of the sprite data fields. The pallet colors are limited to the top 5 bits of each color BGR with the leading bit always zero in opposite order of RGB (RRGGBBh). That is 32,768 BGR colors versus 16,777,216 RGB. This is shown better on the Sprite Request List page. There is probably more on this that I might not remember off hand, but it sounded like you might find it interesting. --BlackOak42 (talk) 00:09, February 28, 2017 (UTC) Thanks! I find this sort of thing really interesting. --AuroraMLP (talk) 02:11, February 28, 2017 (UTC) Oops, I just remembered the three pallets shared with all Ponymon (or Pokemon) Icons. These icons are the sprites that you see in Bill's computer, the in game Ponymon(party) screen, and the in battle switch Ponymon screen. These choose a pallet by a table that contains only pallet IDs XXh = 00, 01, or 02 only. Field 0 to 251 for Ponymon 0 to 251 and field 277 to 411 for Ponymon 252 to 386. These pallets are easy to edit, but may be tricky to coordinate. :) Looks like it was used as a way to minimize pallet use in the GBA memory in my opinion. I love sharing this sort of info with others. I also use these conversations as a way to come up with more information to add to this wiki. --BlackOak42 (talk) 05:57, February 28, 2017 (UTC) Hmm... That last part might be very critical for people designing the sprites. If we know what pallettes those are, or at least what colors were used in the other sprites of the group, it would make sure there are no problems. (Although I could be understanding this wrong.) --AuroraMLP (talk) 14:39, February 28, 2017 (UTC) I just found the .png files I made for these pallets. :) I thought they were gone too. I will be posting them in the next 48_hrs. Probably HERE. --BlackOak42 (talk) 17:00, February 28, 2017 (UTC) Thanks! That will be so useful. I want to see those before I make any sprites of my own. I want to get it right the first time. --AuroraMLP (talk) 17:12, February 28, 2017 (UTC) I put the three Icon starters with pallets on the How To Make Game Icons page that I will be working on after How To Make Battle Sprites In GIMP. Okay, I was about to ask about that after I started spriting. I figured you were busy enough, though. --AuroraMLP (talk) 16:26, March 1, 2017 (UTC) Guiding Light and Alphabet I was looking into your profile links and go sucked in all the way to chapter 8 of GL. I did however have to stop for dinner. Good stuff! --BlackOak42 (talk) 00:33, March 3, 2017 (UTC) Thanks! I put a lot of work into it. And if you haven't found out already, there are quite a few hints in there that makes it quite possible to come up with almost all the "reveals" before they happen. Feel free to comment on what you think, or any theories you have. I may confirm things, and I will definitely reply. --AuroraMLP (talk) 04:55, March 3, 2017 (UTC) I got sucked back in. I love your story. I thought it might be interesting to share my mental notes (stray thoughts), and I hope it is helpful and/or interesting to you too. I am used to reading much longer books (currently the Dragon Knight (Dickson) series ... again), and am not sure how developed fan-fic stories usually are since this is the first for me. I love surprises, so i'm just writing the questions to share more of my thoughts. (I am at the end of Ch12): *I love reading about characters that take a unique approach to magic (Dragon Knight, Warlock Series, etc) **This story's approach reminds me of the Dragon Knight series the most. *Noticed some spoken parts with starting quotes, but missing end quotes - Ch7 and 8 *RGIS - Royal Guard ...? Defined later? (I am at end of Ch12) **Is not defining RGIS on purpose in order to maintain a feel of not being a part of, or privy to, the workings of the castle? **Could building on the feel of being "in it" and not "of it" add to how she feels about living in the castle? *The feel of being a part of a bigger, yet undisclosed, picture reminds me of the Pip and Flinx series and other series to a lesser extent. **Flinx has a friendship and somewhat symbiotic relationship with Pip. Not really comparable to this story, but elements reminded me of it. *Focus does not encompass much of the workings/events in the castle. The castle feels big, but also kind of empty. **The focus feels like she is isolated from contact with any one other than the main characters. **Servants are often out of sight and scarcely seen in the books I read, but are always around the corner listening to be called and are often waiting to bring in what they know the lord or lady will call for. Also, often a young "runner" is in wait if they need to get someone. **The guards feel like part of the castle (as I feel they should). I feel you nailed it. *"...They knew what words to use, ad how to use them..." - Ch12 *Less directly falling asleep in other parts might make the one mid Ch 11 feel more unusual, though I am not sure if changing the others would be a good idea or not. **Might also be a good place to share seemingly random short thoughts on the day, something, someone, or to add more depth to the character or interpersonal connection/relationship with Smarty. Unless keeping a minimal focus on Smarty is intentional. **Maybe thoughts irrelevant to the story, but adding depth to the characters. *Smarty seems extremely attached to her from her beginning. Aurora has grown used to her, but I feel a deep pull to see her being or becoming more emotionally/physically attached. I could expect that the mutual attachment already existed because of the shared Chi. *I love seeing Smarty's development. I think it is well presented this way. These were some of my thoughts while reading the story, but not necessarily about the story, at the moment of reaching the end of chapter 12 (A snapshot in no particular order). Many of these are me thinking stray thoughts and may not necessarily be useful nor well thought out, especially since I do not have a grasp on how to balance detail and story length for fan-fic writing. I like your writing style. Reading it has a nice flow/continuity. I have many theories about how the story could go, but love not knowing for sure if any are correct. It is a wonderful story so far. Thank you for sharing it. --BlackOak42 (talk) 10:55, March 4, 2017 (UTC) Thanks! I love the feedback! Seeing the story from a different perspective always helps me to improve. You will see many more missing end quotes in the future. Those are actually intentional, as they signify that the next quoted paragraph is said by the same speaker. It is an unusual rule, but it is still correct. It isn't seen much, as most stories don't have multiple paragraphs with the same person speaking. The definition of RGIS is intentionally withheld, as Aurora does not know exactly what it is. The connotation is the same, though - it is an intelligence agency. You proably won't see them until possibly the next book, as both of them interact more with the castle staff. They are detached from most of the ponies at the castle. Really, they have basically just arrived, and while Aurora can be described as extroverted in her actions, she has not had much experience making friends. I do believe I have gotten better at character development and showing more of their thoughts in recent chapters, and I eventually plan to do a revision of these previous chapters once I have finished with the story or I have extra time in-between writing. Writing on FimFiction is an odd dynamic, as each chapter I post is only the first revision of my draft, and I have no dedicated editors. Additionally, this is the first story of mine that "succeeded" - where I had learned from my past mistakes. I'm still kind of an amateur when writing, and so naturally there is going to be a gradient of quality in the chapters. Aurora will probably start realizing she doesn't feel "at home" in the castle eventually (probably next book, at least from what I've planned), but right now, her mind is in what I like to call "emergency mode." Since the time she went to Celestia and requested the opportunity for entrance to CSGU, she has given herself no break, whether that was her own doing or out of her own control. She has had no time to think or process, so any feelings she may have are building inside her instead of being dealt with. And now I am going to stop before I accidentally spoil you on something. Anyway, if you are looking for more MLP-related stories, then I would definitely recommend Alarm Clock, especially if you like Derpy/Ditzy Doo. Also, you might not have the time to read it, but Rites of Ascension, by CvBrony, is a really good and unique story about Twilight's ascension, except it was started before the Season 3 finale, and the author has not watched the show past when he started the story. So it has a completely fabricated and complex canon. It is also over 400,000 words. (Still incomplete.) And his writing gets a lot better with time. The first few chapters can be a little weird, but as he is working hard enough on making future chapters, as well as his own novel to publish, he hasn't really had the time to fix any of that. While I am recommending stuff, I might as well mention The One Who Got Away, a really nice, feel-good story that really has good characterization. It also has a sequel, Drifting Down the Lazy River. Those are my top four stories I have found so far. (And if you want more good stories, I have a few more, but these are the most "important.") --AuroraMLP (talk) 16:35, March 4, 2017 (UTC) There are at least a few "magic by state of mind/feeling/emotion with a learning start using incantation as a guide" type novel series that I love. This is the basis I used for Harry Trotter being a Magic Ponymon when I worked on Types almost a month ago. Aurora learns magic quickly and even makes intuitive leaps. I love it! Aurora's learning reminds me of the Dragon knight series. He learns he can do magic after the first book(The Dragon and the George). He later finds out the dragon part is more like a Natural/Elemental's magic and "costs" him barely any magic if even that. Do you have a source of concept or inspiration that you used for these two ways (incantation and intuitive) of learning magic? Have you gotten far enough to decide how to work the time dilation for "Passage"? There are Physics related ways that would make this possible if we as human could manipulate what causes the time-space distortions in space. The only way "we" can see this is by measuring nanoseconds in kinematic and gravitational experiments (here is a good reference). If we could manipulate it with much of an effect, we could do exactly what was hinted in your story, create a cloaking effect, fast forward through boring parts of our lives without experiencing accelerated aging (say maybe experience 1_min while every thing outside the anomaly would experience 1_wk), etc. If you were near enough to or were a massive enough object you could theoretically "see" billions of years happen around you in a matter of a week or so. The problems for us or similarly MLPs would include creating a powerful omni-directional gravity field (positive or negative delta depending on the intent), making a gravitational delta for a boundary of the effect to separate the rates of time passage, controlling the shape of the anomaly, controlling the collapse of the anomaly, living through the gravitational forces and changes, lighting (1_wk exposure of photons in 1_s or vice versa). Unfortunately, if the goal of the effect is to experience moving 60_km at 60_km/hr in 1_hr when others experience 1_s, then you are one hour less one second older than you would have been if you moved at 60_km/s for 1_s to cover that distance. Do that too much and you will show signs that you are aging faster than your neighbors. Aurora could use her age reversal magic to offset this. She could cram years of study into a day. She couldn't go back in time if she missed something, but could create a single or multiple time delta. It would be an interesting way to make a lock with momentum based tumblers unlock or a similarly controlled mechanism to activate. If you use this please mention BlackOak42 or BlackOak anywhere, the character to invent/create it would make my day and then some. In the Authors notes would be nice too. Maybe use it as part of the protection on something that is protected by earth pony, unicorn, and pegasus magic requiring the three types to work in unison to unlock/open it. Of course it would be too complex for one alicorn to do alone, but I guess three knowledgeable alicorns would do ... aided by a green pony. This would definitely go in the "other branch(es)" of earth pony magic. :D The physics of time-space would be too much to put in a short fan-fic, but that combined with the interaction of "Dark Matter" (not really dark, just only seen by its effects) with other matter would be a good basis and/or info source for use in a story. I had a lot more that I wanted to include, but I try to keep these short. --BlackOak42 (talk) 07:59, March 5, 2017 (UTC) Actually, most of my inspiration studying the show's implied magical theory, as well as studying Pinkie Pie and how she seems to operate. (She isn't quite as unsolvable as most people think.) Incantations were only a small step removed, as I thought of those from a different perspective than conventional ones. Instead of words directing the magic, they directed the emotions to direct the magic more efficiently. Also, I got about a quarter of the inspiration from the magic theory of Rites of Ascension. (Quite a lot of my study overlapped with the canon of that fiction.) Don't tell anyone yet, but the two stories are actutally supposed to be set in the same universe. Some other pieces of canon are the same between them, like the state of the Griffon Kingdom and the Council that shares power with Celestia. I asked CvBrony about it, and he said that was perfectly fine. I will definitely come up with a scientific explanation for Passage, just like I came up with one for teleportation. Passage is a little different than what you described. (Only slightly, though.) It is hard enough and complicated enough where even masters of it con only fast-forward a few seconds (maybe about seven?). More than that would probably require both having a special talent for it and being an alicorn. (I'm sure you can see why - that ease of hyper-fast movement would be super overpowered. Especially in a battle.) I'm sure I can fit it Black Oak, by the way. You have helped me a lot with your feedback. I hope you don't mind him being a villian, though... (If you do mind, I can change it, but it would make for an awesome villain name.) Besides, I most likely will use your resources for the scientific part of it anyway. Probably going to mention the scientific parts in the Author's notes, by the way. It is too short for such a full explanation. Just like I have a full map of Canterlot as well as a full Equestrian alphabet (and an Old Equestrian one) in my writing journal, but I don't show those in the actual story. (And a map of the Crystal Caverns, and part of the floor plan of Canterlot castle...) I think I gave out the link for the font that the Equestrian language is written in. One of the Author's Notes, I think. I put it on my Kindle for practice, and now I can read it fluently. No, I don't have too much free time... I just use it in a strange way. --AuroraMLP (talk) 16:49, March 5, 2017 (UTC) I was thinking about the effect the anomaly wall would have on her magic balls (my mind wandered again). The anomaly boundary could be shaped to shape the magic ball to be either penetrating or concussive. An evil Black Oak ?!?!?! ... I LOVE it!!! Between me and my twin, I have always joked to everyone that I was the "evil twin". Mua-ha-ha-ha!!! That really makes my day. THANK YOU! --BlackOak42 (talk) 21:02, March 5, 2017 (UTC) I finished GL Ch21. I was really hoping to see the am I real moment, and was greeted by a well placed, nicely written, gratifying exchange between the two. I found a couple more typos and Smarty referred to as he that I could find again if you would like. I was of course expecting the progression of understanding and uses of the compass, and will be watching for more as it is available. When the green stone was mentioned I wondered how the connection to her natural/inherited magic would be involved and how the magic would interface with it. I was expecting a less direct interface, so I was delighted with Smarty's direct interaction with it. It worked nicely to be a weight in the back of Smarty's mind that she had just functioned as an interface for a device adding to the am I real sequence. The hey mom go over and wash off your hoof while you are still disoriented was great. I have used similar on my children, works great. I would like to say it is a nicely written story, especially being a first draft. I would be happy to discuss anything up to the end of Ch21 if you wish. Mind state was a part of the Native American "medicine" that I am interested in (I am referring to non-drug type, much better described HERE). The nature of Aurora's compass also reminds me of a book Cyber Way. The "way" being in the Native American sense. The ceremonial process of making a particular sand painting makes a rather fascinating device/portal/interface with an exciting outcome. Also in the case of sand paintings, there is not (or at least should not be) one commercially available sand painting without a flaw purposely added. I was thinking that exploring the fabrication of the compass could be fascinating. To do it in a similar way to Cyber Way would include a visit to somepony that still makes earthpony devices in a not to different manner from long ago, but probably for much simpler and unrelated functions. It could include a visit to a jewelry maker that also makes something roughly the shape and size that fits a depression. It could be just a rough copy of something an old living relative once showed the jeweler that roughly copied the "ceremonial process". She could buy the something to try it with weak results at best, then go back to find out about the object's inspiration. some crystal from the cave might make an interesting trade and conversation for the copy, use of the original, or trade of an original. I am excited about the alphabet. Most of the complex stories, movies and shows that I enjoy have elements that are thoroughly defined. Many times even a community briefly encountered in a scene or chapter has a fairly detailed culture written and/or drawn out that the audience never sees. Mention of familiarity with your alphabet reminds me of writing in the Keen alphabet between several others at school some time ago. I was thinking of treating the symbols as devices instead of creatures because of the MLP FiM alphabet being shapes like arrangements of horseshoes. The search on symbols used in MLP FiM did include an article with a story about a mathematician that was a fifth great grandpa of mine. That made it 20% cooler :) but fruitless, other than pointing out that he made contributions to mathematics and physics that might help quantify stuff about the fields that I was talking about before. So it was at least entertaining. I was considering using your alphabet instead of the MLP FiM alphabet to replace the Unowns, depending on what you think of using it that way and with permission. I was thinking of finding another alphabet anyway since I was still looking for an alphabet to make look like a creature or advanced ancient artifact, and it seemed silly that either would look like something that would come off of someponies foot. That leaves me with an alphabet that is less common, probably without much ties to MLP, and no source for gamers' reference if it hasn't been used for copyrighted material. With these and other factors, I think your alphabet would be best suited from what I have seen so far, but I don't want to use it unless I am sure that you are at least somewhat excited about the idea. So ... what do you think? My mind wandering tangents and skews as you have seen me call it happens often, and often comes unbidden. It just happens, so I just follow them. I wish I had time and patience to document them, follow corollaries, or use them to write stories. Oops, overlong again ... sorry about that. I think it is interesting how so much of what you have written touches on elements/concepts that I find so entertaining, exciting, interesting, and/or remind me of parts of other stories that I enjoy. Thank you again for sharing that story. --BlackOak42 (talk) 09:25, March 6, 2017 (UTC) Thanks again for the input. Yes, it would be nice if you could find those errors for me. (Ughh... I can't believe I slipped up again with calling Smarty a "he." Her personality tends to be quite non-gendered, so my mind sometimes flip-flops like that.) Feel free to use the alphabet in any way you want. I mean, it would be great if you could mention me somehow as the original creator, but... Anyway, the version I have posted (did you find it?) is a letter-for-letter transcription for English. This makes it possible to become fluent in reading it a lot easier (I frequently read books in it), but if you want a more authentic "language," I still have the original alphabet in my journal, where you can create new spellings for words if you want. I even have a completed grammar for a completely original language, but I only have a few words made, as I gave up trying to make thousands of words of vocabulary. If you want to take that and run with it, be my guest! I would love to see the results if you do. And I really have to restrain myself to not spoil the evil Black Oak for you... --AuroraMLP (talk) 16:10, March 6, 2017 (UTC) All Input and origins of data, Pics, Music, etc will be credited to the contributors. This is a very important point to me on this project. This will mean a major cleanup of the credits page, but I think the results will be worth it. I plan on only crediting the original creators of each item. For the Unowns or whatever they end up being called, there will be mention of the originator, original use of the alphabet, A reference link if possible, and maybe brief bonus info. There will also be the same info on the trivia for The Ponymon 201 page. If you don't want to make them, I want whoever does to make sure to make them with the device look that you described in GL. I would love to use the language and grammar you are talking about, but I guess I better not add more complexity for gamers than necessary. I think I would like to look into it for my own curiosity after the game is well on its way. Fan-fic proofing on its way. --BlackOak42 (talk) 08:50, March 7, 2017 (UTC) I noticed you used the British spelling "grey", and that reminded me that some of these may be only be wrong locally. *bedsheets -> bed sheets (Ch8 beginning) *there.I ("Aurora... none of us were expecting what happened there.I am very sorry you had to experience something like that, and so early in your development...) (Ch8 beginning) *(The color shifted, fading into a light orange. "...it's now Growth magic. Most earth pony farmers use this kind of magic instinctually, without even realizing what they're doing. Now this...") (Ch9 halfway down from lower drawing to the bottom) "Instinctually" is correct but unusual. This may sound better to me with "instinctively", but it is just my personal preference. *I'l -> I'll (Smarty Pants landed beside her. "I think I know. I'l go get her for you. I think she's in the Throne Room.") (Ch11 several lines from bottom) *viabrate -> Vibrate (Ch14 right before BOOM) *signalling -> signaling (signalling for her to stop. "Wait, we should secure the rope here.") (Ch16) *caste -> castle (Smarty tapped Aurora on the shoulder. "Um, Mom? The caste entrance is over there. I mean, it isn't exactly subtle.")(Ch18 top) *i'm -> I'm (It barely uses any power, and i'm sure the enchantment isn't that complex.) (Ch19 half way down page, several lines above the leaves) *Smarty's head whipped around from where he was sprawled on the floor, and he stared directly into Aurora's eyes. (at end of Ch19) *o -> to (She gave a weak smile, then sighed, bringing them back o the castle with a dark flash.) (end of Ch20) Restraint appreciated. I'm looking forward to the surprise. --BlackOak42 (talk) 10:37, March 7, 2017 (UTC) Thanks! That really helped a lot. And that third one... is really hilarious to me. I am an editor for another story on Fimfiction (Defect, by CroakyEngine), and that is the exact same suggestion and phrasing that I used for him. And thanks for some of these corrections. I actually did not know that "bedsheets" was not yet a word. And my family always had pronounced vibrate as "viabrate," so I didn't realize that I had been spelling it wrong. I will use some British spellings, the ones that make more sense to me. Like "grey." But I still spell things like "armor" instead of "armour" and "color" instead of "colour." Let me know if that is distracting in any way to the story. I wouldn't want that. --AuroraMLP (talk) 16:15, March 7, 2017 (UTC) Please continue using the mixed style you are using. It adds character to the story that I find appealing. It suggested to me that Aurora came from a slightly different culture since this is from her perspective, or that the story takes place at a different time. The first reference I thought of was "Demolition man", but then I thought of Luna's cultural catch up in "Luna eclipsed". Using this sort of writing style is common in the books I read too. Just use it with consistency (even with mixed word origins) for a nice cultural effect. You can also change it up such as when she immerses herself in the books. When you do that sort of thing, the culture it comes from has a tendency to rub off on you. --BlackOak42 (talk) 18:37, March 7, 2017 (UTC) Oh, all right! Yeah, unless I actually misspell a word, I am pretty consistent with the spellings. In a way, I do have a different culture than everyone else, since my mother was from upstate New York, my father was from South Dakota, we lived in Washington State, and stayed in Germany for the past four years. (Not to mention the other traveling we did.) I don't think I'm even capable of having a single culture now. I just pick the bits and pieces I like from each one. Oh, and just something to get you thinking. Remember how I kind of promised that Aurora would get taught by Princess Twilight as well? It isn't a mistake that she hasn't really met her that much yet. That wasn't a spoiler, I'm just pushing you in the general right direction. Sigh... if I make the clues too subtle, no one will figure anything out. If I make them too obvious, then the story will have no appeal. This is way more difficult than I thought it would be. It is very hard to take a reader's perspective, as someone who has no idea what the plans are for the future. --AuroraMLP (talk) 19:07, March 8, 2017 (UTC) Yes, nicely consistent which is important. I am fairly sure you understood me, but just in case I will clarify. I think you might develop some differences in the way she thinks and feels due to the influence of the book writers' cultural differences. The way you think, speak, and perceive the world is influenced by the world around you. The music you listen to, movies you watch, people you interact with literature you read, and more naturally influence you. You naturally adjust in order to more clearly relate to your surroundings. As an experiment, you can watch a British movie or some British shows with your family, and see how many of them are speaking with a slightly British accent afterwards. For me it was over half. So, since this is from her perspective the only thing left to do is to think about the cultural nuances she is used to, and write the story using the word choice, spelling, and phrasing that might come from that cultural exposure. If I were to do this particular story, I would have to make notes of particular word, spelling, and other habits and take special notes to the changes and when they occur. Two years of exposure to the old books would be a good place to try this if the culture has evolved enough since they were written. At least two of the princesses have been around many tines longer than most, and has had a more diverse cultural influence. The way I look at it is culture is a temporary average local description of a population. Culture influences the individual, but each person is separate from the culture because every one is unique. I am happy to be influenced by many cultures. I have been influenced by friends that come from many other places both near and wide. I am influenced by the Okinawan culture from traditional Okinawan karate. Being part (a small part) Native American I was interested in and influenced by immersion in art, music, natural medicine, and other stuff. I was even officially given an Indian name, that my twin and I share since that is common custom. A culture is more like an average of personal exchanges, behavior, art, music, style, architecture, many aspects of language, and more that describe what you can locally expect to encounter. Being influenced by a blend of cultures makes us interesting, unexpected, and unique. Using all of that as a frame of reference while writing can be quite complicated, but the results I have seen in the books I have read is quite amazing. You can almost feel the difference as you follow the characters through the stories. So "paint a picture" of each character's background and let it come out in their speech. Use the "picture" from the point of view character for the style of writing. I picked up on the Princess Twilight already, don't worry. To me it was obvious. I think the subtlety is perfect ... for me anyway. Remember being able to pick up on those subtle hints are up to the state of mind of the reader and their ability to pick up on the type of hint given. A lot of it has to do with level of maturity and mental training/exercises of the reader. Reader perspective is difficult, and not many can spend much time writing and be able to step back far enough to see that it can be interpreted in a different way with a different background (upbringing, age, culture, word meaning variation by local use, etc). I don't believe it will detract from the story if you don't try to do what I have described now and before. If not successfully implemented it could harm the story. If it works out, it could be quite rewarding. --BlackOak42 (talk) 22:39, March 8, 2017 (UTC) Hmm.... that just reminded me about something that I had forgotten to implement. Mostly due to her general lack of interaction with more than a few select ponies, but yes, two years of constant exposure to an older style of speaking without much social interaction would change the way she speaks to others, especially those not in her personal circle. Of course, Princess Celestia and Luna would not necessarily notice the change, as they themselves would be a bit behind. I touched on this a tiny bit early on, but thank you for the reminder. I think I might have forgotten about it completely. --AuroraMLP (talk) 23:12, March 8, 2017 (UTC)